Full Name: Shula Kumo Njoo
Gender: Female
Age: Twenty-Four
Element: Fire
Birthplace: Fire Nation Royal Palace
Position: Fire Lord
Personality: Clever and kind. Understanding, but fair. Shula trusts few people, understanding that as a female in a high position of power, many seek to cut her down and claim it as their own. She is an extremely fierce fighter, but if she has bested an opponent, she gives them the option of surrender; she doesn't kill unless it's absolutely necessary. Shula is an extremely adventurous person and gets bored with routines--not the best trait to have when you're the Fire Lord.
She is insanely protective of her country and will do anything to keep it safe and prosperous. She has a problem with touch; this is a result of fear and distrust, and the fact that she wasn't shown much more affection than a half-hearted "Good," from her father. She will often flinch or her expression will go completely blank; her body will tense until the physical contact is no longer there. While this is an issue with affection, she is completely fine with touch in a battle; she would rather be punched in the face than given a hug it seems.
Shula's also a bit of an absent-minded girl. She sometimes forgets things and if it wasn't for her advisers the Fire Nation would probably be in utter chaos because of her dislike of sitting and reading papers all day. If you can motivate her though, she becomes focused and her personal drive gets things done rather quickly. She's fairly intelligent--you just have to know how to get her to focus on the task at hand.
Abilities: Bending:~
Firebending: Master Shula mastered firebending at the age of sixteen thanks to the rigorous training her teacher Gen Zhou put her through. Although she is already a master, Shula still often seeks new forms and techniques of the art of firebending.
"Mastery does not mean you know all there is to know. It means you understand and accept that you will learn each day; knowing it all is just an illusion."
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Lightning: MasterShe has the ability to bend lightning, a technique that she prefers over regular firebending--she would rather get the battle over with one well-aimed shot than play cat-and-mouse.
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Other Bending Technique: Average She also developed a technique to bend lava itself (although Avatar Roku did it first, she has a set of techniques for it and occasionally practices at the Sages' temple.) She can also cause flames to dissipate, taking the heat of them and expanding it outwards and away from herself, effectively eliminating them; she once tried reversing a flame in on itself and caused an explosion and is unwilling to do it again, although she has tried it a few times afterwards and could use it in battle if necessary.
Weaponry:Hand-to-Hand Combat: Master In her lifetime, Shula has learned forty-nine forms of martial arts and is in the midst of creating her own defense techniques--this is a combination of the cumulative research she had don in martial arts. She's taking the best of these and using them to create the ultimate fighting style, although she does not suspect that many will use it because of its unorthodox ways.
Kyoshi Fan Technique: Master As a child, Shula had glorified the Kyoshi Warriors in her mind, thinking them to be the greatest fighting group the world had ever seen. While this is not entirely untrue, she spent her adolescent years of eleven until thirteen studying the Kyoshi Fan Technique specifically, enjoying the give and take that the fans seemed to share. She also uses these fans to amplify her firebending.
The Art of the Blade: Master Shula's most favored method of fighting, after her fans, is using the katana and wakizashi pair. She is known for this, as her elegance and grace while fighting is equal to that of a dancer, but as deadly as a lion. She also enjoys using hissatsu, small Japanese knives that come in various shapes and sizes that can be hidden easily underneath clothing. She always has at least three hissatsu on her person at all times.
Aerial Weaponry [darts, arrows, etc.]: Expert During her time in exile, Shula was taught how to use poisoned darts. While this isn't one of her favored methods, as she prefers her opponents up close and personal, she improved greatly. As a child, her father had tried to get her interested in archery; she never took up the art, having no taste for it, but during her exile she studied this method and improved from a beginner to quite an accomplished shot. She was also taught how to use her favored hissatsu as throwing knives; if she must throw a weapon at an enemy, that's what she prefers.
Staffs: Average While in exile, she had also been taught how to use short and long staffs, nunchucks, and sansetsukon as well. While she had learnt this with much progress, her interest declined after her exile and she has maintained average level with that particular fighting style. When training, she still practices with these, to maintain that which she has already learned.
Other Skills:Disguise: Master Shula learned how to disguise herself quite well during exile. Using different oils and herbal mixtures, she discovered how to blend with her surroundings and even change her hair color. She discovered that she was quite the actress.
Gardening: Uh...average? As Shula had been living underneath the Fire Nation Capitol during her exile in a giant metal cocoon, she had taken up gardening; while that sounds a little odd, it really wasn't, because she mainly grew plants that required little to no light. She found that she was quite good at it and that it's a good way to relieve stress.
Music: Beginner Shula's love for music had always existed, even when she was a small child; as she grew older, she grew envious of those who could play music and sing beautifully. When she was exiled, she found music to be a beautiful release of the anger and sorrow, and has begun learning to play the sitar. While she isn't very good now, she hopes to one day master the instrument.
Appearance:
Height: Five feet, eight inches
Weight: One hundred and fifteen pounds
Eyes: Gold
Hair: BlackShula has long black hair that reaches to her lower back and the customary gold eyes of Fire Nation. She received none of her mother's Earth Kingdom-esque facial features, although her body shape is that of an Earth Kingdom woman with large hips, a round bum, a tiny waist and average sized b'reasts. When needed, she will wear the traditional Royal kimonos and robes, her hair up in an elegant bun with the Fire Lord's crown atop her head. Unless it's necessary, she prefers her hair down and a loose dress--preferably one without sleeves.
She has a heart-shaped face and a full, soft mouth with straight white teeth. She has a little dimple in her pointed chin, and a thin pink scar along her hairline on the left side that she hides with strategically cut bangs; there is another large, thick scar from her lower back that races up to the middle of her shoulder blades. She is tall and thin, making her look like an easy adversary; what little weight she does have on her body is mostly muscle, although her skin is soft, silky, and milky colored.
History: Father: Shinsei Njoo; Deceased Shinsei had been a distant man; his gold eyes had always seemed hard and cold, and his voice was never passionate unless he gave a speech about the glory of the Fire Nation. He was very intellectual and ruled the Fire Nation with his mind; he'd been a good fighter, but could've done better. Shula's only negative feelings towards her father are that he failed to give her actual fatherly love; he'd always treated her like the successor to the throne rather than his flesh and blood. Fire Lord Shinsei had thirty-four when Shula was born; he was fifty-two years old when he died.
Mother: Kumo Njoo; Deceased Kumo had been a loving and sweet woman; her warm brown eyes and tan skin came from her distant Earth Kingdom heritage. She and Shinsei were married when the two fell in love, despite their age differences; she had been twenty when she was married. She gave birth to Shula at twenty-one; she died at twenty-three. Shula does not remember her mother, but feels like she knows her from the stories told and the pictures hanging in various rooms of the Palace and the Fire Lord's mansion on Ember Island.
Brother: Kashikoi Kai; Unknown Kashikoi Kai was Shula's older half-brother, raised in a different household with a different mother than Shula. His last name matches his mother's; he was a nonbender, making a claim to the throne illegitimate. He was the one who gave her the two foot long scar on her back. He disappeared after their battle and Shula has not heard from him since.
Brother: Atarashii Kai; Unknown Atarashii Kai is Shula's other older half-brother, twin to Kashikoi. He was also a nonbender; Shula believes him to be deceased.
Childhood: Shula grew up as the only child to the Fire Lord; her mother died when she was three and she was raised to be the heir to the Fire Nation throne. She was then rigorously watched, having no time to actually be a child, and was trained in fighting styles and in politics. She was taught by a private tutor, and began her lessons at the young age of three and a half.
Mastery: She was sixteen when she mastered firebending, a feat that was very rare, especially for how quickly she progressed. After her mastery, she went into the world to study other forms of martial arts and to meet with other leaders and have them teach her the politics for ruling a nation.
Her Father's Death: When she returned home at 18, it was to find her father lying in his death bed. The same strange illness that struck her mother had been born in her father, and he was slowly dying. She spent her days and nights by his bedside, inviting healers and scholars to come and take a look at him. Many remedies were tried; all failed. Eventually, he had to die, and the eighteen year old was looked upon to rule.
Coronation: After her father's death, the kingdom held a solemn funeral and her coronation in one. She entered a stage of depression for a week, as she had no family left and many believed that she was unfit to rule as a female. Eventually, she realized that it did not do her father's memory justice to waste away in her bedroom while her country needed someone they could rely on. She went forth and proved that she was a worthy Fire Lord, and was loved by most of her people.
The Thief: Four years after Shula's coronation, she was forced to leave her home. An adviser of hers, Novai, was stepping in and taking her place. Rather than plunge her country into civil war, she fled to wait it out and devise a plan to get her throne back. She began an organisation, The Underground, and her followers joined her in a plot to bring Novai down.
Exile: Shula learned quite a bit in her exile from the throne and evidently the Fire Nation. Not only was she taught in new ways of weaponry and disguise, but she had learned to appreciate the simpler things in life for what they are. The posh, prim, and proper girl was replaced by a wiser woman--for twenty-four years old, she can seem quite wise as she's experienced more in her short lifespan than most in an entire lifetime.
Victory: Two years later, and all of her planning was complete. She used her small but powerful group to bring Fire Lord Novai down, and Shula regained her throne and her country. And now....no one would stop her from keeping it.
An Unknown Relative: Months after she returned to the throne, she discovered that one of her traitorous admirals was actually her brother. Kashikoi Kai, her half-brother, was not allowed the throne because of his inability to bend. They fought, Shula for her country, and he for unknown reasons; the battle left her with the two foot long scar along her spine. Shula learned that Kashikoi had been the one responsible for both of her parents' deaths.
A Gift: Weeks after her battle with her half-brother, Shula was paid a visit by a Fire Nation traveler, Mako. He had brought her a baby dragon, bright red in color with large gold eyes and an intelligent curiosity for things.
